A LITTLE DAB’LL DO YA

This? This isn’t the lust lotion. I’ll grab that in a sec. This is my hemorrhoid cream. I’m gonna need your help here.

We were going to go with “cream for my seeping bacne” for the subhead on this one, but that struck us as too colloquial, so we went with hemorrhoid cream instead. We’re all class around here. Anyway, Curt Aldrich, who we last discussed way back in 2009, was a house pseudonym inhabited by several writers, so we hear. The only one of those to have been positively identified is Richard Curtis. The Lust Lotion, which appeared in 1967, is a tame effort for Aldrich. He would go on to write incest books like Spread Big Sister and Her Father’s Fixation, as well as bestiality novels like Daughter Loves Horses, Horse-Happy Schoolgirl, and the unforgettable Schoolgirls Hot for Dogs, so Lust Lotion is family fare in comparison. The art is from Robert Bonfils. 

Shake that thang like a Polaroid picture.

Despite the racy look of it, 1,2,3… Swap! is one of author Curt Aldrich’s tamer efforts. Writing from the mid-60s and into the 80s, he specialized in swapping fiction, giving us many memorable books, including Cock ‘o the Swap, Swap Epidemic, and Swap ’69. Not one to limit himself, Aldrich also went fully hardcore with rather shocking titles like Daughter Loves Horses, Spread Big Sister, and Horny Holy Roller Family.

It could be Aldrich showed such range because he was actually a pseudonym used by various authors, including Richard Curtis, who later became a literary agent. Many of these books featured low-rent cover illustrations that were little more than sketches, but this psychedelic effort by an unknown artist (looks like it could be Robert Bonfils, but absent confirmation, we’ll go with unknown) is first rate. We’ll be posting more Adrich books in the future.

Update: turns out the art is by Darrel Millsap, who illustrated scores of covers for Greenleaf Classics. It only took four years to clear that up, but better late than never.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1961—Plane Carrying Nuclear Bombs Crashes

A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two H-bombs experiences trouble during a refueling operation, and in the midst of an emergency descent breaks up in mid-air over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Five of the six arming devices on one of the bombs somehow activate before it lands via parachute in a wooded region where it is later recovered. The other bomb does not deploy its chute and crashes into muddy ground at 700 mph, disintegrating while driving its radioactive core fifty feet into the earth.

1912—International Opium Convention Signed

The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague, Netherlands, and is the first international drug control treaty. The agreement was signed by Germany, the U.S., China, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.

1946—CIA Forerunner Created

U.S. president Harry S. Truman establishes the Central Intelligence Group or CIG, an interim authority that lasts until the Central Intelligence Agency is established in September of 1947.

1957—George Metesky Is Arrested

The New York City “Mad Bomber,” a man named George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs. Metesky was angry about events surrounding a workplace injury suffered years earlier. Of the thirty-three known bombs he planted, twenty-two exploded, injuring fifteen people. He was apprehended based on an early use of offender profiling and because of clues given in letters he wrote to a newspaper. At trial he was found legally insane and committed to a state mental hospital.

1950—Alger Hiss Is Convicted of Perjury

American lawyer Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury in connection with an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), at which he was questioned about being a Soviet spy. Hiss served forty-four months in prison, but maintained his innocence and fought his perjury conviction until his death in 1996 at age 92.

1977—Carter Pardons War Fugitives

U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all of the country’s Vietnam War draft evaders, many of whom had emigrated to Canada. He had made the pardon pledge during his election campaign, and he fulfilled his promise the day after he took office.

We can't really say, but there are probably thousands of kisses on mid-century paperback covers. Here's a small collection of some good ones.
Two Spanish covers from Ediciones G.P. for Peter Cheyney's Huracan en las Bahamas, better known as Dark Bahama.
Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.

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